Mumbai: Starting with a breakfast with the captains of industry, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have a hectic schedule of business and cultural meetings during his visit to Mumbai tomorrow, where he will also attend a ‘Shalom Bollywood’ event.
Following a ‘power breakfast’ with select business icons like Anand Mahindra, Ajay Piramal, Adi Godrej and Chanda Kochhar, he will later address the India-Israel Business Summit at Taj Hotel in south Mumbai, which will also be attended by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The state government plans on a partnership with Israel to develop its water grid project to solve the drought problem in the Marathwada region. Fadnavis said a few days ago that during Netanyahu’s visit to the city he would discuss the project and seek Israel’s support for technology and design to carry out the project, which requires interlinking of all major water resources in the eight districts of Marathwada.
Fadnavis, who visited Israel in May 2015, is expected to host a special lunch for the visiting Israeli premier and his delegation.
This will be followed by a wreath-laying ceremony for the 26/11 victims of Mumbai’s terror attack. He will then visit Nariman House, also known as Chabad House, a Jewish centre, where he will meet 11-year-old Moshe Holtzberg, whose father Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and mother Rivka were shot dead by terrorists — along with six others — in a 2008 terror attack.
Netanyahu will also meet 25 to 30 members of the Jewish community at the Taj Hotel. Around 3,000 Jews continue to live in India and most of them call Mumbai their home. The city had a sizeable population of Jews but around 33,000 migrated after Israel was created.
The Jewish community will mark Netanyahu’s visit to Mumbai with the launch of Namaste Shalom, a monthly magazine on bilateral relations between the two countries, at Magen David Synagogue in Byculla.
The hectic schedule of the Israeli premier will come to an end as he meets Bollywood personalities, with an invitation to them to visit his country. In a joint statement earlier, he said, “My wife and I are very happy that we are going to Bollywood.”
In fact, he is keen on Bollywood making its films in Israel. A memorandum of understanding on film co-operation was signed by both India and Israel on Monday.
